I Am... I Said
"I Am... I Said" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. Released as a single on March 15, 1971, | title = Neil Diamond: Biography | author=William Ruhlmann | publisher= Allmusic | accessdate= 2008-04-30}} it was quite successful, at first slowly climbing the charts, then more quickly rising to number 4 on the U.S. pop singles chart by May 1971. It fared similarly across the Atlantic, reaching number 4 on the UK pop singles chart as well. Inspiration "I Am... I Said" took Diamond four months to compose. One of his most intensely personal efforts, Neil Diamond told Mojo magazine July 2008 that this song came from a time he spent in therapy in Los Angeles. He said: }} In the same month, he told Q that the song was written "to find himself" and added, "It's a tough thing for me to gather myself after singing that song." But Diamond has also given another inspiration for this song: an unsuccessful tryout for a movie about the life and death of the comedian Lenny Bruce. Author David Wild interviewed Diamond for a 2008 book and he discussed how his efforts to channel Lenny Bruce evoked such intense emotions that it led him to spend some time in therapy. David Wild. He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond. Da Capo Press, 2008, pp. 107-108. Reception Critical opinion on "I Am... I Said" has generally been good, with Rolling Stone calling its lyric excellent in a 1972 review, while The New Yorker used it to exemplify Diamond's songwriting opaqueness in a 2006 retrospective. A 2008 Diamond profile in The Daily Telegraph simply referred to the song's "raging existential angst," and Allmusic calls it "an impassioned statement of emotional turmoil... very much in tune with the confessional singer/songwriter movement of the time." The song never went without its detractors however. Humorist Dave Barry said: The song garnered Diamond his first Grammy Awards nomination, for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. Other versions "I Am... I Said" was included on Diamond's November 1971 album Stones. The single version leads off the LP, while a reprise of the song, taken from midway to a variant ending with Diamond exclaiming "I am!", concludes. It has also been included in live versions on Diamond's Hot August Night (from 1972, in a performance that Rolling Stone would later label "fantastically overwrought" ). Checkmates, Ltd. released a version of the song on their 1971 album, Life.[http://www.discogs.com/Bobby-Stevens-3-And-The-Checkmates-Ltd-Life/release/3734092 Checkmates, Ltd., Life] Retrieved January 29, 2016. Brooke White performed the song on American Idol's seventh season during its Neil Diamond week, changing the lyric to replace New York City with her home state of Arizona. Among the foreign versions are the Italian language "La casa degli angeli" ("House of the angels"), performed by Caterina Caselli in 1971, and by Dutchman Jan Rot on his 2008 album Hallelujah as "Zeg God... zeg ik", taking the title as someone who curses, while the Jewish word for God means 'I am'. The Brazilian singer Diana recorded the song as "Porque Brigamos" ("Why we argue") in 1972, with lyrics written by the composer and producer Rossini Pinto. The band Killdozer also covered the song on their 1987 album Little Baby Buntin'. Austrian singer Udo Wenders released a German version titled "Die Welt von heut" ("The world of today") on his 2012 album Ich finde dich. Jamaican reggae singer Mikey Spice released the album I Am I Said in 2014, including a cover of this song. See also * List of songs about Los Angeles * List of songs about New York City References Category:1971 songs Category:1971 singles Category:Songs written by Neil Diamond Category:Neil Diamond songs Category:Checkmates, Ltd. songs Category:Songs about New York City Category:Songs about loneliness Category:Songs about Los Angeles Category:Uni Records singles